If you were to believe everything you read online, you’d think that your body was filled with pollution and destructive chemicals and that there is a massive connection between this toxic body and weight loss. The story is that we breathe in these substances, eat them in our foods and drink them in everything from our specialty coffee to our glass of water. These harmful chemicals that you consume are stored in your body unless you detoxify. That’s the claim. But should you believe it? Are your liver and intestines really packed full of a backlog of all the unwanted substances to which they’ve been exposed throughout your lifetime?
Can There Be a Connection Between a Toxic Body and Weight Gain?
Nearly every licensed physician and reputable medical organization such as the Mayo Clinic will tell you that in the context mentioned above, no there is no connection between a toxic body and weight gain. Any surgeon will tell you that they have never cut into a liver and found pockets, layers, or buildups of toxins that are the source of the patient’s fat burning woes.
Unless you are suffering from a terrible disease that is causing your organs not to function properly, that’s simply not how they work. Moreover, if you do have such a condition, your struggles with your weight will not be your primary symptom. You’ll have already noticed a slew of other issues. You don’t not have a toxic body that is leading to your weight gain struggles. As a result, you don’t need to cleanse or detoxify in order to be healthy and maintain a healthy bodyweight.
Why Detox Diets Don’t Work
Trying a detox diet in an attempt to detoxify your body could actually end up doing more harm than good. At first, it may seem as though you are losing a bit of weight. This won’t be more than a pound or two, but it also likely won’t be burned fat.
Instead, you’ll more than likely simply have lost water weight and because your stomach doesn’t contain as much food because many of these strategies involve a certain amount of fasting or a drastic reduction in food consumption. That said, you can also risk slowing down your metabolism – meaning that you’ll be more likely to gain after you’re done the detoxing – and you can throw off your electrolyte balance, disrupt your intestinal flora and bowel function.
What Can You Do Instead?
Since it’s not a matter of having a toxic body that is causing weight gain, there are lots of things you can do to be easier on your liver while also promoting bodyweight control. These include:
- A diet that is nutritious overall
- Consuming adequate fiber every day to keep waste moving outward
- Staying hydrated to promote healthy organs and to ease the elimination of waste
- Avoiding alcohol (drinking it in small amounts when you do have it)
- Controlling sugar intake
- Quitting smoking
- Exercising regularly
By taking these steps, your body’s own natural functions will make sure it does not end up toxic in some way, and you’ll keep up better control over your bodyweight as a whole.